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TWENTY-THREE
Oakley leaned against the wall in the hallway, hidden by the pre-dawn shadows as she watched Pike come down the stairs. She’d heard him go into Rae’s room on the monitor. Despite Oakley’s absolute exhaustion, she’d woken each time the door clicked on the monitor. Too many years of being acutely attuned to her daughter’s sounds had left her a light sleeper, so she knew that Pike had checked on her daughter every hour since Oakley had gone to bed.
Normally she would’ve never let someone else, especially a guy, go into her daughter’s room at night. But every instinct she had told her Pike meant no harm to either of them. And each time he’d checked on her, he’d stayed all of ten seconds—long enough to eyeball the state of Rae’s hand. So despite waking up each hour, she had been able to grab some much-needed sleep in between. And now, her sentry looked like he was fading. He stretched out on the couch, lying on his side, and flipped to the early, early news—the one only overnight workers and parents of newborns watched.
Seeing him there, putting himself through the trouble on her behalf, made something warm and powerful curl inside her. This guy was going to kill her. They weren’t supposed to be doing this. The two spheres of her life were not supposed to collide. Pike wasn’t allowed in this part of her existence. It made her feel things she shouldn’t. Want things she shouldn’t. At least things she shouldn’t want with him.
But she couldn’t help the feelings that were developing. As much as she told herself to shut off that part of herself, she couldn’t. He wasn’t letting her. Each time she thought she’d created some line between them, he did something that moved him back on her side of the wall. So though she knew nothing could come of this, she was tired of denying what was there. She’d feel what she wanted to feel and when it ended, she’d deal with it. She was a big girl. A little heartbreak wouldn’t kill her. Hell, she’d probably get a notebook worth of songs over it. At least she wasn’t numb anymore.
She padded into the living room on bare feet. Pike’s eyes were closed, but his breathing wasn’t even enough for sleep. She stepped around the couch and knelt down next to it then leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
His eyes blinked open, and he gave her a lazy smile. “Well, hi there.”
“I’ve heard this four a.m. news is very compelling.”
“Mmm,” he said, pushing himself on his elbow. “Couldn’t take my eyes off it.”
“You look exhausted.”
“So, stunningly sexy, right? That’s what you mean.”
“Of course.” She let her fingers trace over the phoenix tattoo on his arm. Small, smooth bumps moved under her fingers, surprising her. Her eyebrows scrunched. “You covered something with this one.”
“Burns,” he sai
d, reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Compliments of another of the boyfriends.”
Her chest squeezed. “God, how did you not murder somebody?”
“Almost did,” he said, his voice quiet.
Her heart broke for the kid who’d had to deal with such horrible circumstances. How he’d made it out and become such a successful man, a good man, she didn’t know. She leaned over and pressed a kiss over the first burn mark. His body went tense as a bow beneath her. But when she continued and trailed kisses along the path of burns, he cupped his other hand over her head and let out a slow breath.
She lifted her head and brushed a kiss over his mouth. “Come to bed, Pike.”
His hazel eyes flickered blue in the light of the television. “What about Rae?”
“She’ll be out for another few hours and won’t come downstairs until it’s light.”
His hand slid to the back of her neck. “You sure?”
“Never more sure of anything.”
A sleepy smile broke through at that. “Well, then I can’t think of a better way to start the day.”
“Not too tired?” she asked, climbing to her feet and taking his hand to pull him up from the couch.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “Unless I’m dead, I’ll never be too tired for you.”
She led him by the hand down the hall and into her bedroom. He locked the door behind them and before she could even get a lamp on, he had his hands on her face and his lips on hers. The kiss started off slow and languid, but as soon as their tongues twined and bodies pressed against each other, a spark ignited, chasing off the exhaustion. The kiss turned deep and breath-stealing, parched people drinking from the waterfall, and Oakley could feel their control breaking, any internal restraint giving way.
She gathered his T-shirt in her fists and backed them both toward the bed. His mouth went to her neck and his hands beneath her nightshirt. Cool palms on her sleep-warmed body. He cupped her breast and then lowered his head to take her in his mouth. She moaned and yanked at the button on his jeans, needing him skin-to-skin right now.
They fumbled and kissed, hands everywhere, like desperate teenagers who’d never gotten laid. The fact that they’d slept together twice in the last twenty-four hours didn’t seem to matter. The need was just as acute each time. Maybe even more so now that she was letting herself off her leash and just indulging in every part of this connection, no walls erected.
The sound of fabric ripping filled the air. She felt her brand-new nightshirt drop off her body.
“Fuck,” Pike said under his breath. “Didn’t mean to do that. That looked new. I’ll get you another one.”
